When I think of big ships, I think turrets. It has never really been a valid choice though. The only real use they have at the moment is for applying engineering effects on hardpoints that are deemed unimportant otherwise, or to try to keep a little pressure on ships using target lock breaker.
I envision big ships having an actual niche compared to now. They can't chase down and finish smaller targets, and I don't think they should be able to if the faster ship is smart and wants to disengage. However, what do they gain for this tradeoff? Not much currently, because it is hard to actually utilize all of your hardpoints and superior distributor in a way that matters, except against other big ships. So how do you fix this? In my opinion, you fix it by making turrets viable damage wise.
The niche a big ship with turrets would fill is essentially a sphere of denial. You're a beacon for your own wing or forces to rally around. Ideally, you would put your fixed or gimballed weapons in your biggest and best slots and build your turrets around these. So how do you make turrets actually deadly without them being too overpowered? How do you discourage smaller ships from loading up on them while keeping them a go-to option for bigger ships?
Thats a good question, and I'd like to see what people think. One possibility is making them a lot more power hungry, instead of being the least used power option.
In the end, I think this would help cement big ships viability in the game while also making the gunner multi-crew role a lot more interesting of a feature. Medium ships would still be the go to solo pvp option just like they are now, but big ships would have to be approached with a lot more care. They won't chase you down and finish you, but they also won't be seen as an easy target you swoop in and spam plasma at until it pops or wakes. There would also still be counters to the turret loadout as there should be, both for small/medium and other large ships.
A couple of side notes -
1. With this change I also believe that projectile based turrets should have more ammo than their other counterparts by default.
2. PvE wise I think this change would also perfectly compliment the upcoming wing missions.
So again, let me know what you think, or why I'm wrong that this would be a good change.
I envision big ships having an actual niche compared to now. They can't chase down and finish smaller targets, and I don't think they should be able to if the faster ship is smart and wants to disengage. However, what do they gain for this tradeoff? Not much currently, because it is hard to actually utilize all of your hardpoints and superior distributor in a way that matters, except against other big ships. So how do you fix this? In my opinion, you fix it by making turrets viable damage wise.
The niche a big ship with turrets would fill is essentially a sphere of denial. You're a beacon for your own wing or forces to rally around. Ideally, you would put your fixed or gimballed weapons in your biggest and best slots and build your turrets around these. So how do you make turrets actually deadly without them being too overpowered? How do you discourage smaller ships from loading up on them while keeping them a go-to option for bigger ships?
Thats a good question, and I'd like to see what people think. One possibility is making them a lot more power hungry, instead of being the least used power option.
In the end, I think this would help cement big ships viability in the game while also making the gunner multi-crew role a lot more interesting of a feature. Medium ships would still be the go to solo pvp option just like they are now, but big ships would have to be approached with a lot more care. They won't chase you down and finish you, but they also won't be seen as an easy target you swoop in and spam plasma at until it pops or wakes. There would also still be counters to the turret loadout as there should be, both for small/medium and other large ships.
A couple of side notes -
1. With this change I also believe that projectile based turrets should have more ammo than their other counterparts by default.
2. PvE wise I think this change would also perfectly compliment the upcoming wing missions.
So again, let me know what you think, or why I'm wrong that this would be a good change.
